News 18:00

BULLETIN 29 July 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# An analyst urges Zuma to smoke the peace pipe and not challenge his expulsion from the ANC
# Nedbank denies claims it made a profit of over R2.7-billion-rand
# And, Olympic Games: Mountain-biker Hatherly clinches South Africa’s second bronze in Paris

# Political analyst Ongama Mtimka has advised former president Jacob Zuma to accept his expulsion from the ANC. The ANC’s national disciplinary committee found him guilty of misconduct. Zuma, who campaigned against the ANC with the MK Party, has 20 days to appeal. Mtimka urges Zuma not to appeal the expulsion:

# Nedbank has rejected claims by the Special Investigating Unit and Transnet over alleged 2.7-billion-rand interest rate swap transactions for one-thousand-and-64 locomotives. The case risks erasing 20-percent of Nedbank’s 2023 earnings. SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told the SABC the swaps, linked to state capture between 2015 and ’16, should be voided:

# US vice-president Kamala Harris is set to be chosen as the Democratic presidential candidate for November’s elections later this week. The chairperson of the party’s national committee, Jaime Harrison, confirmed representatives will vote on the issue on Thursday after previously announcing they won’t wait for the national convention later this month. Harris’s campaign has meanwhile received 3.6-billion-rand in donations since president Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the race a week ago. It also signed up 170-thousand new volunteers.

# Olympic Games: Mountain-biker Alan Hatherly clinched another medal for Team South Africa in Paris, ending third in the cross-country event. Thomas Pidcock won gold and Frenchman Victor Koretzky silver. This is South Africa’s first Olympic cycling medal since the Games in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, and takes the country’s tally to two after the Blitzboks also claimed bronze on Saturday.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia easily dispatched of old foe Rafael Nadal in the tennis singles in Paris. The Spaniard, a 14-time French Open champion at the same courts of Roland Garros, looked like a shadow of himself in the first set. He fought back in the second, but ran out of steam, with Djokovic winning 6-1, 6-4. Thirty-eight-year-old Nadal, who is expected to retire this year, is still competing in the men’s doubles with young compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-49-cents and the euro at 19-rand-99-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-73-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-805-dollars-34-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-390-dollars-41-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-92-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….